I recently had my long overdue bloods done and thought that I should update My Story on the blog.
After 16 months since my last blood test, I reluctantly went back and had them done. Reluctant because I was in the middle of dieting and had recently stopped all alcohol. In the past losing weight has meant a rise in my total cholesterol figures during weight loss. My GP met me in the corridor and confirmed that I was comfortable with a student leading the diabetic review. Quite happy to do so as I am a patient volunteer anyhow at the Graduate School of Medicine.
My GP introduced me and told the student that I was their success story so it was useful for her to see how I had chosen to address my diagnosis of T2. She did a brief history taking and asked if I was on insulin and I told her no and no meds now whatsoever. "So diet and exercise?" Yes, a low carb diet in which I exclude all the usual BG raising foods totally. My GP then explained to her that when one cuts out carbs seriously there is a need to increase protein and fats. The student then asked was it akin to the Atkins diet? I agreed but now it leaned heavily to Bernstein and then we moved on to my blood tests.
A1c down 0.1 to 5.2, total chol up to 5.4, HDL up to 2.09, trigs down to 0.71, LDL also rose but GP said that as she "no longer considered me as a diabetic, she was OK with those changes". I queried the "non - diabetic" diagnosis and said that much as I wanted to give it away I was still diabetic. GP said that she considered I was "at risk of developing diabetes" or pre-diabetic as for some 2 years had returned figures putting me into that range.
The student took my BP and it was high as usual first time around. Dr Vickie showed the student how to get a true reading - I take three deep breaths in and expel them forcefully each time and this time it was 110/60. My GP offered me the option of taking home a blood test request to test again when my (own) target weight had been reached again (3.5kgs to go) and my lipids had stabilised, which was very considerate of her.
All happy and a great way to put forward a realistic and successful approach for living with diabetes to a first year student training to be a GP.
Alison
Please check out our website www.lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk We created and maintain this site without any help from anyone else. In doing so, we do not receive direct or indirect funding from anyone. We do not accept money or favours to manipulate the evidence in any way. Please visit our Low Carb food and recipe blog www.lowcarbdietsandrecipes.blogspot.com
6 comments:
Wow Alison fantastic thanks so much for sharing this
Mel
Great story Alison your a shining example of what can be achieved by following a LC diet.
Graham
Good stuff Alison, but what's depressing here is the 'cognitive dissonance' (sorry) shown by the GP; diabetes is obviously a progressive disease. So, if you correctly manage it and improve it what does that mean? Well, that you don't have diabetes of course...
I think Fergus' diabetic team tried the same line on him when he started getting HbA1c's under 5%
Best
Dillinger
This is great Alison, it just shows what can be achieved. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.
Anne
Just wanted to say very well done Alison.
Doug
Excellent post Alison, well done. Over the past 3 years I, like many others, have recorded HbA1c's under 5.4% Given the prevailing orthodoxy that diabetes is progressive you'd have thought that such a string of results would have piqued the interest of the GP. Think again. When I have brought it up, the GP, with a wry smile, refuses to discuss the topic.
John
Post a Comment